Metabolomics on the study of marine organisms

Abstract

Background Marine ecosystems are hosts to a vast array of organisms, being among the most richly biodiverse locations on the planet. The study of these ecosystems is very important, as they are not only a significant source of food for the world but also have, in recent years, become a prolific source of compounds with therapeutic potential. Studies of aspects of marine life have involved diverse fields of marine science, and the use of metabolomics as an experimental approach has increased in recent years. As part of the “omics” technologies, metabolomics has been used to deepen the understanding of interactions between marine organisms and their environment at a metabolic level and to discover new metabolites produced by these organisms. Aim of review This review provides an overview of the use of metabolomics in the study of marine organisms. It also explores the use of metabolomics tools common to other fields such as plants and human metabolomics that could potentially contribute to marine organism studies. It deals with the entire process of a metabolomic study, from sample collection considerations, metabolite extraction, analytical techniques, and data analysis. It also includes an overview of recent applications of metabolomics in fields such as marine ecology and drug discovery and future perspectives of its use in the study of marine organisms. Key scientific concepts of review The review covers all the steps involved in metabolomic studies of marine organisms including, collection, extraction methods, analytical tools, statistical analysis, and dereplication. It aims to provide insight into all aspects that a newcomer to the field should consider when undertaking marine metabolomics.

Application of MS-Based Metabolomic Approaches in Analysis of Starfish and Sea Cucumber Bioactive Compounds

“…In terms of workflow, a typical MS-based metabolomic study involves the stages of sample collection, extraction, fractionation and/or purification, measurement, identification, and analysis of the results ( Figure 1 ). The analytical protocols used in MS-based marine metabolomics have several important differences from those used to analyze the metabolites of terrestrial animals and plants [ 41 ]. This section discusses the characteristic features of MS-based metabolomic approaches in the context of starfish and sea cucumber bioactive compounds, including steps of sample preparation, acquisition, and analysis.…”

“…There are protocols designed for quenching, including flash-freezing using liquid nitrogen or dry ice, lyophilization, and freeze-drying; however, some of these are difficult to implement when animals are collected in the wild. Therefore, in most cases researchers use alternative protocols such as freezing or direct extraction with organic solvents [ 41 ].…”

“…Mass spectrometry is used in various fields of marine sciences today, including marine proteomics [ 39 ], metabolomics [ 40 , 41 ], lipidomics [ 42 ], marine toxicology [ 43 ], ecology studies [ 44 ], and others. The introduction of modern mass-spectrometric approaches has greatly contributed to the development of metabolomics as a transdisciplinary science that aims at the qualitative and quantitative determination of the whole metabolite pool of organisms.…”

“…Metabolomic studies of marine organisms is a field that uses a variety of modern approaches, including MS, NMR methods, and hyphenated techniques [ 40 , 41 , 44 ]. This review focuses on the use of MS-based metabolomics techniques applied in studies of extracts and fractions of starfish and sea cucumber bioactive compounds.…”

Metabolomic Study on Tridacna maxima Giant Clams Reveals Metabolic Fingerprint of Environmental Pollutants

“…Therefore, analyses of metabolites (Meyer and Weis, 2012;Cziesielski et al, 2018;Cleves et al, 2020) are crucially needed to understand the physiology of holobionts and their responses to ecological disturbances, such as different environmental conditions and pollutants (Li et al, 2016;Cui et al, 2019). While metabolomics is an emerging field of study it is already being applied to investigate different areas in, for instance on environmental stressors and disease monitoring (Emwas et al, 2013;Lankadurai et al, 2013;Marante, 2016;Bayona et al, 2022). Thus metabolomics are increasingly utilized to examine the interactions between an organism and its environment (Emwas et al, 2021;Bayona et al, 2022).…”